How have divorce rates changed since 1920?
Divorce rates increased until 1980, and have declined since then
How are the refined divorce rate and the crude divorce rate different?
The refined divorce rate is the number of divorces per 1,000 married women - compares the number of divorces to the number of women at risk of divorce (that is, married women) and is a more valid indicator of the rate at which marriages are dissolved than the crude divorce rate; the federal government discontinued the compilation of the refined divorce rate in the mid-nineties. The crude divorce rate is the number of divorces per 1,000 population - children and the unmarried - who are not at risk for divorce. Despite it's limitations, the crude divorce rate is used for comparisons over time because these data are the only long-term annual data available
What is the "divorce divide"?
The divorce divide is the likelihood of educated women to divorce vs uneducated women to divorce
How are divorce trends different today for women with college degrees versus less educated women?
only 25% of college women who married in the early 1990s will divorce, whereas over 50% of less educated women will experience a divorce.
What reasons may explain the general decline in divorce rates (almost 30% since 1979)?
People aren't getting married at vulnerable, younger ages - those who wait are likely to make better choices and to have the maturity and commitment to work through problems. Another reason is that better-educated and better-off working couples have had the economic tide in their favor - families with two earners with good jobs have seen an improvement in their standard of living, which leads to less tension at home and lower probability of divorce. Also because more people are cohabiting - if there are no marriages, than there are no divorces
Why do couples of today get divorced?
People no longer rely on others for survival and therefore don't need one another for basic necessities, so they are freer to divorce than they once were. Stress of living with inadequate finances and failure to meet the expectations for economic or educational attainment seem to contribute to marital instability. Women entering the workforce aren't the issue, it's the housework that leads to marital conflict. Employment also gives economic opportunity to the unhappily married woman. High expectations of marriage - people often expect it to provide a happy, emotionally supportive relationship. Those who expect the marriage is semi-permanent often divorce, in contrast with those who see it as no other option
Levinger's model of divorce decisions proposes that people evaluate their marriages in terms of (1) rewards, (2) alternatives, and (3) barriers. What are some examples of each of these components? How do kids affect these decisions?
Barriers: kinds, religion, and lack of financial resources - When the woman's income is a smaller percentage of the family income, when church attendance was high, and when the couple had a new baby. Rewards: love, respect, friendship, commitment, good communication - most effective in keeping marriages together. Alternatives: least important in decisions to divorce - "would I be happier with a divorce?
Are couples who divorce because their marriages are unsatisfying necessarily happier after they divorce?
According to a series in the Ladies Home Journal, couples aren't necessarily happier after they divorce
What proportion of couples who get separated are able to reconcile with their partners and resume their marriages?
Only 1/3 of couples who get separated are able to reconcile with their partners and resume their marriages
What are the different facets or "stations" of divorce that Bohannan describes? What adjustments and/or problems accompany each aspect of divorce?
Emotional divorce: involves withholding positive emotions and communications from the relationship, typically, replacing these with alienating actions and words - partners no longer reinforce, but rather, undermine each other's self-esteem through endless large and small betrayals: responding with blame rather than comfort to a spouse's disastrous day, for instance, or refusing to go to a party given by the spouse's family, friends, or colleagues. As emotional divorce intensifies, betrayal becomes greater.
Legal divorce: dissolution of the marriage by the state through a court order terminating the marriage. Principle purpose of the legal divorce is to dissolve the marriage contract so that emotionally divorced spouses can conduct economically separate lives and be free to remarry - two aspects of legal divorce make it painful; divorce creates the need to grieve, but the usual divorce in court is a rational, unceremonial exchange that only takes a few minutes - divorcing individuals may also feel frustrated by their lack of control over a process in which the lawyers are the principals. A second aspect of the legal divorce that aggravates conflict and misery is the adversary system. Under our judicial system, lawyers advocate their client's interest only and are eager to "get the most for my client" and "protect my client's rights." Opposing attorneys are not trained to and ethically are not even supposed to balance the interests of the parties and strive for the outcome that promises the most mutual benefit. No-fault divorce - allowing a partner in a failed marriage to divorce readily and reducing hostility.
Community divorce: ruptures of relationships and changes in social networks that come about as a result of divorce. Simultaneously, divorce provides the opportunity for forming new ties
Economic Divorce: couple becomes extinct economic units, each with its own property, income, control of expenditures, and responsibility for taxes, and debts, and so on. Women typically lose financially in a divorce - usually a decline of 20-36% in their income-to-needs ratio
Psychic divorce: adjustment to life with new status
Co-Parental Divorce: parents share custody
What two legal assumptions underlie the notion of a fair or "equitable" property settlement in divorce?
Two legal assumptions: marriage is an economic partnership - a man could not earn the money he earns without the moral support and domestic work of his wife, whether or not she was employed during the marriage. The second assumption, is that property consists of such tangible items as a house or money in the bank, or other investments. Yet, except for very wealthy people, the valuable "new property" in today's society is the earning power of a professional degree, a business or managerial position, work experience, a skilled trade, or other human capital.
How are women at an economic disadvantage in divorce?
When property is divided in divorce, the wife may get an equal share of tangible property, such as a house or savings, but usually that doesn't put her on an equal footing with her former husband for the future.
What is "alimony" as the word was traditionally used?
spousal support - historically, alimony was a payment of husband to wife resting on the assumption that the contract of marriage included a husband's lifetime obligation to support his wife and children.
Are most women awarded "spousal support" by the courts, and is the award typically enough to get women financially reestablished?
Only a small minority of wives are awarded alimony, and no it is not typically enough to get women reeastablished financially.
Are women likely to be at such a large disadvantage following divorce in the future?
Women are less likely to be at a large disadvantage in the future, because people anticipate the difference that the strong labor force attachment and likely higher earnings that younger women may make
How do men fare financially after divorce?
Most men lose economically in a divorce - the chief reason being that they lose the income of their partner, along with the taxation rates for noncustodial parents. Child support and higher rates of taxation because he has no dependents to claim
What is child support?
money paid by the noncustodial to the custodial parent to support the children of a now-ended marital, cohabiting, or sexual relationship.
Who usually pays such support�moms or dads?
Fathers usually pay child support
Why don't some parents pay?
Failure to pay is attributed to unemployment or underemployment. Depending on the custody arrangement, some parents won't pay
Do experts agree on the effects of divorce on children?
No, this is highly debated
According to the influential Wallerstein research, which takes a very negative view of divorce, what stresses do children experience when their parents divorce?
Economic deprivation, deprivation of spending time with one parent, moving, changing schools etc.
How does divorce affect children's educations?
Divorce affects education because oftentimes, divorce settlements fail to include arrangements to pay for the child's education and family savings are often eroded by divorce. 60% of children were less likely to receive the same amount of education as their fathers, and 45% of children were less likely to receive the same amount of education as their mothers.
What "middle ground" are many divorce researchers arriving at regarding the effects of divorce on children?
The "middle ground" many researchers are arriving at is that both negative and positive outcomes for children in both married and divorced households suggest that the behavior of the parents has the greatest impact on their children's wellbeing. If a divorced couple continues to have conflict, the outcome will be negative. If children of married, cohabiting, divorced, remarried, or single parents feel nurtured, loved, and supported by parents and families who engage in conflict resolution and work hard at getting along with one another, the outcomes for those children tend to be positive.
What factor has the most influence on how children will weather a divorce?
The most significant influence on a child weather a divorce is a good mother-child (or custodial parent-child) bond and competent parenting by the custodial parent seem to be the most significant factors in whether a child will weather a divorce.
Who usually gets child custody, and why do mothers often have an advantage when seeking custody, particularly of younger children?
The mother usually gets child custody, and often has an advantage because of theories of child development - lent support to a presumption that mother custody as virtually always in the child's best interest, the so-called "tender years" doctrine.
Why do some mothers give up or lose custody?
Some mothers lose custody due to abuse or neglect, or give it up because of financial reasons, child's choice, avoidance of moving the children, and self-reported instability or other problems.
What do noncustodial "visiting" parents experience after divorce, and how are mother-child and father-child relationships affected when parents become noncustodial?
nonresidential mothers and fathers had similar levels of visitation in terms of frequency and activities during the visit - both were more likely to engage in only leisure activities as opposed to helping with homework or going to school activities. Less frequent and more recreational visitation seek to be a result of structural factors: distance from the child's home, difficulty of finding an appropriate setting for the visit, and the wish not to engage in conflict or disciplinary action sin the limited time spent with the child. Noncustodial fathers, like noncustodial mothers, find it difficult to construct a satisfying parent-child relationship - during the marriage, a father's authority in the family gave weight to his parental role, but this vanishes in a nonresidential situation. Geographical distance and conflict with the mother may also be barriers to frequent contact. Custodial mothers, are effectively gatekeepers, facilitating or not, the noncustodial father's relationship with his children.
Is "child snatching" common?
It isn't very common - 350,000 children were abducted by biological parents in 1999
How was the abduction of a child by a biological parent dealt with in the past, and how is it dealt with today?
In the past, it wasn't legally considered kidnapping and not prosecuted as such - now, however, the passage of the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act and the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, states must recognize out-of-state custody decrees and do more to find the child and prosecute offenders.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of joint custody?
Advantages: Fathers can have more influence on the child's growth and development - a benefit for men and children alike, fathers are more involved and experience more self-satisfaction as parents, parents experience less stress than sole custody parents. Generally, fathers and mothers report more friendly and cooperative interaction in joint custody than in visitation arrangements, mostly because the time with children is evenly balanced and agreement exists on the rules of the system. It also provides more free social time for each single parent. Relationships with children are stronger and more meaningful for fathers and parental power and decision making are equally divided, so there is less need to use children to barter for more
Disadvantages: Children lack a stable and permanent environment, which can affect them emotionally, children are prevented from having a relationship with a "psychological parent" as a result of being shifted from one environment to another, children have difficulty gaining control over and understanding their lives, and children have trouble forming and maintaining peer relationships, and long-term consequences of joint custody arrangements have not been systematically studied
How are "her" divorce and "his" divorce different?
Her divorce: women who were married longer lose identity associated with husband's status, older women typically have less opportunity at a meaningful career and limited options to remarry - mothers who retain sole custody of their children often experience severe overload as they attempt to provide not only for financial self-support but also for the day-to-day care of their children, & these difficulties are aggravated by gender discrimination in employment, promotion, and salaries, and by the high cost of childcare. Women may also have less work and education experience. On a positive note, women perceive improvement in overall happiness, home life, social life, and parenting from before and after their divorce. Women also are more likely to have built social support networks, and show greater emotional adjustment and recovery than men.
His divorce: divorced men miss having daily contact with their children and are concerned about possible qualitative changes in their parent-child relationships as well. Noncustodial fathers also have more radical readjustments to make in their lifestyles than do custodial mothers. Custodial mothers often escape the loneliness divorce may cause, and are rewarded with social approval for raising their kids. Children, especially daughters, may also develop closer relationships with their mothers after the divorce. Noncustodial fathers often retain the financial obligations of fatherhood while experiencing few of its joys. Anger, grief, and loneliness may be aggravated by the traditional male gender role, which discourages them from sharing their pain with other men - men also have the lowest level of emotional support, and are more likely to become vulnerable to substance abuse and alcoholism. In most cases, men still retain economic stability after divorce, in contrast with women
How are adult children of divorced parents affected by the divorce?
Those raised by a single parent reported lower solidarity - they saw their parent less often, had poorer-quality relationships, felt less able to count on parents for help and emotional support, and actually received less support. Even when the parents divorce after the child is 18, children were in contact with their parents less often and reported lower relationship quality overall - this effect applied to both parents, was but was much stronger for fathers.
How does divorce affect their relationships with their parents, and their own marital stability?
Generally, evidence suggests that adult children of divorced parents feel less obligation to remain in contact with them and are less likely to receive help from them or to provide help to them. Scientists have found four reasons as to why this is:
1.) Children raised in divorced, single-parent families may have received fewer resources from their custodial parent than did their friends in intact families, and thus they may feel less obliged to reciprocate
2.) Strain in single-parent families, deriving from the single parent's emotional stress or economic hardship, or both, may weaken subsequent relations between adult children and their parents
3.) The reciprocal obligations of family members in different generations may be less clear in single-parent, postdivorce families.
4.) Adult children raised in divorced, single-parent families may still be angry, feeling that their parents failed to provide a stable, two-parent household
What arguments are given for making divorce harder to get (as happens, for example, in "covenant marriage")?
The arguments for making divorce harder to obtain are protecting the sanctity of marriage, the impact on children of marital impermanence, and what seems to be a lack of fairness towards the spouse who would like to preserve the marriage.
What arguments are given for not making divorce harder to get?
Opposition to making divorce harder to get is centered around a few points: divorce is not always necessarily bad for children, some marriages - those involving physical violence or overt conflict or both - are harmful to children and to one or both spouses. Divorce provides an escape from marital behaviors that may be more harmful than the divorce itself, such as a parents alcoholism or drug abuse. It was also found that no-fault divorce is associated with a decline in suicide rates for women, as well as a decline in domestic violence against both men and women, and a decline in intimate partner homicides of women - existence of an escape route seems to change the balance of power and reduce violence
According to cross-cultural research, why do Swedish children fare better after divorce than American children do?
Because they have much more "egalitarian and generous" welfare policies - Sweden's society-wide willingness to support children's needs by paying high taxes translates into significantly less child poverty, fewer working hours for parents, and more family support programs, such as paid parental leave - all of this results in relatively high child well-being despite high levels of nonmarital childbirths, mother employment, divorces, and single-parent households
What is a binuclear family?
two households, one family
What is a divorce-extended family?
expansion of the kinship system that is produced by links between ex-spouses and their new spouses and significant others and beyond to their extended kin
How common is remarriage in the U.S.?
very common
What do Lamanna & Riedmann mean when they refer to "recoupled" families?
unmarried mothers "partner up" forming subsequent cohabiting relationships with men who have better financial stability and fewer behavioral problems than did their previous partners.
Why are stepfamilies so diverse?
because they're formed in a number of ways - marriage, divorce, cohabitation, etc
What makes remarriages of today different from remarriages of the past?
Remarriages almost always followed widowhood, and the term stepparent originally meant a person who replaces a dead parent, not an additional parent figure. Today, the vast majority of remarrieds have been divorced.
Why has the rate of remarriage been declining?
many divorced people who would have remarried in the past are now cohabitating, and economic constraints, which discourage divorced individuals who may have already been paying child support from assuming even shared financial responsibility for a new family.
How does courtship for remarriage differ from that for first marriage?
Courtship may proceed much more rapidly, with individuals viewing themselves as mature adults who know what they are looking for - or it may be more cautious, with the partners wary of repeating an unhappy marital experience. Dating may include outings with one or both partners' children and evenings at home as partners seek to recapture their accustomed domesticity. Dating may have a sexual component that is hidden from the children through a series of complex arrangements - majority of remarriages begin as cohabiting relationships.
How do men and women differ in what they get out of remarriage, and how does this affect each sex's rate of remarriage?
Finances of mothers greatly improved typically. The fact that remarrying women generally benefit financially more than do marrying men who, having more income, may be disinclined to pool it - so women's rate of remarrying is much lower.
How does being a custodial parent affect whether a woman will remarry? how about a man?
Children lower the likelihood of marriage for both men and women
How important is homogamy in remarriage, and how might heterogamy affect divorce rates for remarriages?
Research shows heterogamy is more likely in second marriages - not sure how heterogamy affects divorce rates?
How do remarriages compare to first marriages in happiness?
There is little difference in happiness levels from the first marriage to the second
Why are remarriages less stable, that is, more likely to break up?
1.) People who divorce in the first place - or those who cohabit - are disproportionately from the lower-middle and lower classes, which generally have a higher tendency to divorce or redivorce
2.) Remarried partners don't want to repeat mistakes of the first marriage - and ironically, never address problems that arise in the relationship
3.) If seemingly irresolvable problems do arise, remarrieds are more accepting of divorce, and more likely to
4.) Stepfamilies may receive less emotional support
How does the absence or presence of stepchildren affect the risk of breaking up?
The presence of stepchildren greatly increases the risk of breaking up
What does it mean to say that the "cultural script" for remarriage is underdeveloped, and that remarriage is an "incomplete institution"?
Society offers members of stepfamilies an underdeveloped cultural script, or set of socially prescribed and understood guidelines for defining responsibilities and obligations and hence for relating to each other. Remarriage is an "incomplete institution" because of the social ambiguity of stepfamily relationships.
How does language reveal that norms for stepfamilies are more "ambiguous"?
People use language - like stepmom, stepdad in reference to step parents, and refer to biological members as their "real" members of the family, while others refer to their stepfamily as their real family, as having no difference from biological or step
What is "boundary ambiguity" in stepfamilies?
Boundary ambiguity" is a state when family members are uncertain in their perception of who is in or out of the family or who is performing what roles and tasks within the family system
How are the kin networks of stepfamilies and remarried families different from those of first families?
New relatives from a stepfamily add to a kinship - and there are many different names for new family members but no legal ones - sorry if this is confusing I couldn't find a way to word it! It's page 458 in the book
How is family law inadequate for remarried families?
assumes that marriages are first marriages, and therefore, many of the legal provisions that affect step-family life proceed from one or both partners' divorce decrees. Few legal provisions exist for several remarried family challeges - for example, balancing husband's financial obligations to their spouses and children from current and previous marriages, defining wives' obligation to husbands and children from current and the former marriages, and facilitating legally structured child visitation decrees resulting from a previous divorce.
What kinds of problems and advantages do children have living in a stepfamily? What is "role ambiguity"?
Problems found from research: higher rates of alcohol and substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, do less well in schoo, and may experience more family and conflict, and are generally less well adjusted.
What is role ambiguity?
few clear guidelines regarding what responsibilities, behaviors, and emotions stepfamily members are expected to exhibit
What is the "stepmother trap"?
society seems to expect almost mythical loving relationships between stepmothers and children, and on the other hand, stepmothers are often stigmatized - seen and portrayed as cruel, vain, selfish, competitive, and even abusive
What factors affect the kinds of experiences stepfathers have in their new families?
Whether the man was single, divorced and child-free, divorced and without custody of his children, or divorced and with custody of children
Why do stepfathers find it often difficult to enter into a family that previously consisted of a single mom and her kids?
a stepfather must work his way into a closed group - a reason that many stepfathers "tend to be marginalized in households where mothers are regarded as the disciplinarians" and furthermore, the mother and children share a common history, one that doesn't include the stepfather.
When partners in remarried families have a mutual child, does this necessarily "cement" the marriage?
Research has found that having a mutual child is associated with increased marital happiness and stability.
Why are financial strains common in stepfamilies?
A remarried spouse (usually the husband) generally is financially accountable by law for children from the first union and financially responsible -sometimes legally- for stepchildren.